


Early Hours

by Nihonkikuasa211



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: Between Seasons/Series, F/M, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 05:59:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8611882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nihonkikuasa211/pseuds/Nihonkikuasa211
Summary: In the early hours, Christa watches Neal sleep as she thinks of the small steps and words they made to find each other again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write something about these two, even though it's not that good.

                                                                                       _Early Hours_                                                                  

 

              Christa Lorenson blinked open her eyes to the sunlight shining through the windows. Her vision was hazy, the lull of sleep tugging at her limbs as a small smile echoed across her lips as she looked across from her.

              Neal was sleeping peacefully. The deep rise and fall of his chest signaled that he would not be waking anytime soon. His dark hair was slightly longer, reaching to his neck. Christa had teased him about the small curls that never seemed to go away when it reached a certain length. Neal had looked at her for a moment then, a small smile framing in his eyes as he looked across at the blond doctor. It had been shortly after they had left Angels, with both feeling lonely when they wouldn’t admit it. Christa now realized that it was heartbreak that caused both to leave the place they considered their first home. She had fallen irreversibly in love – in love with a man who she realized too late, when she walked away, who made her feel whole. Christa would always remember the small moments of weakness, when Dr. Rorish would try to convince her to talk to her former student, and when Malaya would always look at her sadly when she thought the blond wasn’t looking. Eventually the pain of walking the same halls of so many memories – of good, of bonding with people that she didn’t know would understand her – were too much, and she applied to another hospital in LA.

              She should have suspected that Neal would do the same.

              Christa hadn’t expected of how quickly she would fall in love with him, again. Or perhaps she had always harbored her feelings too-gentle heart – only it was a more intimate affair. She got to know who Neal was without his scrubs. He was kind, he was understanding, and he was sorry about what had happened – _“No, what I had done.”_ – with Grace Adams.

              He always told her what he was thinking now, if he had a trying shift instead of bottling up inside and telling her of his feelings. Christa had almost cried when he had told her of how he had been afraid of telling her the truth. To him, she was never a second choice.

              Christa had applied to study emergency medicine at an even lower-funded LA county hospital. St. Bart’s. There weren’t many doctors there, and they were in desperate need of staff. _We needed a distraction._ A distraction from the emptiness in their hearts. Christa had been stunned when she had heard from a very bright young nurse named Adeline that they had just hired a young surgeon from the same hospital. Christa had cried herself to sleep after she had managed to work herself half to death and collapsed on her bed.

              Now she wasn’t lonely. After an exhausting day at St. Bart’s, nerves dulling their common sense when Neal buried his face into Christa’s shoulder and sobbed that he was sorry. It had taken a long night to fully resolve their issues. The second-year resident came to realize that their relationship had simply cracked because of miscommunication. She told him this. It had never shattered.

              _“I love you…”_ Neal had rasped, reaching out to touch her hand. She allowed him to, feeling the warmth and sincerity pouring into her fingers as he squeezed. _“I love you…more than my own heart.”_   

              “I could spend the entire day watching you…and I would still be overwhelmed by how much I love you,” Christa murmured. Her hand softly stroked Neal’s cheek, a smile framing her lips at the sight of his eyelashes slightly fluttering.

              Today was their day off. Christa had vaguely thought of having a small get-together with Malaya and the other residents, but she found that she was simply content of spending her morning with Neal.


End file.
